A Week with Madison

 Our cousin, Madison, got to spend a week at our house this summer.  We had a lot of fun showing her all of our favorite spots in Omaha.  Dallin and Madison are a year apart so they spent a lot of time playing together at the beginning of the week.

 A few days into the week and Madison had attached herself to Ashleigh.  Ashleigh is so great with her younger cousins, so she was a huge help to me all week!  We painted sun catchers together one afternoon.

 We decided to get lunch one day at a nearby elementary school that was offering free breakfast and lunch all summer to anyone and everyone!  They had a choice of three main dishes and unlimited side dishes.  Everyone thought it was fun to eat at school when they didn't have to go to school.

 This was Dallin's first time getting a real school lunch, so he was pretty excited.  He chose the peanut butter sandwich since he wasn't sure about the other choices.  He loved getting a chocolate milk with his lunch.  He is almost ready for kindergarten lunch!

 We went jumping at an indoor trampoline park one afternoon to burn off some energy.  This is a huge family favorite!

 Madison brought her new Snackee cup with her to our house, so Dallin used Ashleigh's for the week so they could both have cups to take with them.

 The new movie, Minions, came out the week Madison was with us so we went to see it on Ashleigh's birthday.  Ashleigh fell in love with Bob (or Bob-O as she calls him) in this movie.

 Bounce U was another huge hit with everyone during the week.  It is a building filled with lots of giant inflatable bounce houses.

 The boys had to try the hurricane simulator while at Bounce U.  It was very similar to the tornado simulator we tried in Kansas City over spring break.

We love these awesome photo props!  This one was outside our zoo.

 We waited all week for a cooler day to hit the zoo, but it turned out to be a very hot week.  We tried to get up early and get down to the zoo before it got too hot, but we only made it a few hours before we decided to call it quits.

 The gorillas were in a very photogenic mood the morning we were there.  They were very interested in what were doing behind the glass.

 Our favorite animal at the zoo is the prarie dog, which isn't even in an exhibit.  They are living naturally in the grassy hills of an empty section of the zoo.  They have probably 100 holes in the hills leading to their underground homes.  They can be seen by the dozens all over in this section and are very used to being around visitors.  This one actually sniffed Owen's hand hoping for some food.

 Hollywood Candy at Old Market in downtown Omaha is just a mile from the zoo, so we had to take Madison there of course!

 We visited the Omaha Children's Museum for the first time while Madison was with us.  We were very impressed and would likely buy an annual pass if school wasn't starting this month.  The kids could have spent an entire day there playing, but they needed food and I wasn't excited about buying food for 5 kids at a museum!

Dallin loves working in kitchens at museums or playplaces.  He cooked and served me pizzas here.

 Dallin loved the chance to work with real tools and nails in the workshop area of the museum.

 The girls enjoyed it too!

 The traveling exhibit happened to be a LEGO exhibit, so that was a huge hit with our family.  We spent at least half our time building with LEGOs.  Owen and his friend Jack built custom LEGO cars and raced them down the long ramps for at least an hour.

 I love that Ashleigh isn't too big yet to play and enjoy the things her younger brothers love.  She had a great time exploring the museum for the first time.

 One of Dallin's amazing LEGO creations.  He had a difficult time at first leaving his creation behind until he found another little boy to give it to.

 Towards the end of the week we went swimming at our local YMCA.  We probably should have done that throughout the week because we enjoyed it so much.

All dressed up for church.  Dallin took Madison to his Primary class at church and did a wonderful job showing her where to go.  It was a great day!  Madison was a trooper keeping up with our busy schedule and high energy level all week.  She is already talking about coming back next summer!